The Latest Climate Change Skeptics: Utilities
Here’s something disturbing: Utility executives are generally “less certain of the threat of global warming than the general public and scientific community, as well as many political and policy leaders,” according to a survey of members of the utility industry by researchers Black & Veatch. That’s a bummer. Before I get into the specific’s on the survey check out this gem that a utility respondent submitted to the survey:
“The energy industry needs to unite and fight the ridiculous ‘consensus’ science of AGW [Anthropogenic Global Warming]. This is not science as anyone with scientific and engineering training understands, but it is power politics.”
In a survey of over 300 utility industry participants, in response to the question: “Do you personally believe that fundamental, long-term global warming is taking place, or are we simply in a cyclical period of warming that is the result of the earth’s natural cycles?” — 39 percent of utility respondents said that they believe the earth is on a fundamental long-term warming trend, while 54 percent believe that we are in a cyclical warming period, and 7 percent responded that they don’t believe in global warming.
In response to the question: “If you believe the earth is warming (cyclically or long-term), do you believe that mankind and greenhouse gases are responsible?” — 46 percent responded that yes global warming is anthropogenic, and 44 percent responded that no, warming is not the result of man’s activities (10 percent responded that it was “not applicable”). Black & Veatch compares those answers to 2009 Gallup Poll data that says that the majority (57 percent) of Americans believe in global warming and think it’s man made.
In addition, the utility survey found that most utility workers “don’t have a great deal of confidence in the science behind global warming.” A total of 49 percent were found to have “little or no confidence in the science, END QUOTE HERE? 18 percent are in the middle and 33 percent have “a lot” or a “great deal” of confidence in the science.” Wow. Have fun selling all that smart grid gear to these folks. Check out the data below:
Do you personally believe that fundamental, long-term global warming is taking place, or are we simply in a cyclical period of warming that is the result of the earth’s natural cycles?
If you believe the earth is warming (cyclically or long-term), do you believe that mankind and greenhouse gases are responsible?
Image courtesy of Tim’s photostream Flickr Creative Commons, and Black & Veatch.
Uh, expect to find an executive in any public utility who isn’t a beancounter or a lawyer?
It is sad that utility executives are cynical about climate change and that they don’t seem to have as much faith in the cause of why we’re going renewable as much as what we hope them to have. What’s important though, is that they practice green regardless of whether they believe that global warming is or is not real.
Most of these executives have an engineering background and understand that the claims of the climate sceintists are not well supported by the science. This has been a complaint from the denialists for years.
However they are still executives; and like all executives in every business sector they will continue to behave in a green manor as long as it pays them to do so. As soon as the money stops, they will behave accordingly. This is what they are trained to do in Business school and this is also what their shareholders demand of them.
Climategate Forecast…
“What is the current scientific consensus on the conclusions reached by Drs. Mann, Bradley and Hughes? [Referring to the hockey stick propagated in UN IPCC 2001 by Michael Mann and debunked by McIntyre and McKitrick in 2003.]
Ans: Based on the literature we have reviewed, there is no overarching consensus on MBH98/99. As analyzed in our social network, there is a tightly knit group of individuals who passionately believe in their thesis. However, our perception is that this group has a self-reinforcing feedback mechanism and, moreover, the work has been sufficiently politicized that they can hardly reassess their public positions without losing credibility.”
AD HOC COMMITTEE REPORT ON THE ‘HOCKEY STICK’ GLOBAL CLIMATE RECONSTRUCTION, also known as The Wegman report was authored by Edward J. Wegman, George Mason University, David W. Scott, Rice University, and Yasmin H. Said, The Johns Hopkins University with the contributions of John T. Rigsby, III, Naval Surface Warfare Center, and Denise M. Reeves, MITRE Corporation.
I’m surprised you find this remarkable. Most of the utility people I’ve gotten to know, and my fellow engineers in general, tend to be on the conservative side of the political spectrum. To say the least. It’s not surprising to me that their opinions on climate change mimic those of that political grouping.